Friday, July 21, 2006

Stuffed Peppers ala Hubbs

When we saw that the bell peppers were really taking off in our garden, I mentioned to Hubbs that stuffed peppers sounded so good. That was a week or so ago. Yesterday, when I got home from the dungeon, what did I see?? 8 beautifully stuffed peppers sitting in a baking dish ready to go into the oven! I couldn't believe my eyes.. dinner - done! (almost) And I didn't have to lift a finger! Don't get me wrong, Hubbs treats me well.. but dinner being made for me in the summer was truly a treat and completely shocking. heheee He does cook, actually stuffed peppers is one of his specialties, but never in the summer. Well, I thanked my lucky star (and him!) and relaxed the rest of the evening. I'm totally hooked on Rescue Me. Anyone watch that show? Denis Leary and an equally hysterical cast in a show about New York Firemen. I've wanted to watch it since it first came on a few seasons ago, but never managed to remember what night it was aired. So I've been renting the complete past seasons on DVD and catching up so I can watch this season repeated this fall. It is an excellent show. Rather raunchy (which I love) and very addicting. Thank gawd for Blockbuster.

Anyhoo.. while peppers baked, I started to watch the first disk of season 2 while lounging on the loveseat. After work.. on a week day.. I thought I had died and went to heaven! heheee

When the peppers were done, we took them outside and ate on the deck. They were fabulous. The peppers were tender and you could really taste the difference between these peppers and peppers bought from the store. Nothing like veggies right from the garden. We had garlic bread and a salad of fresh cucumbers from the garden, as well. Yum! The stuffing was made up of part ground round and part pork sausage with sage. He then added a few more ingredients, covered them with the last of my marinara and additional tomato sauce and voila.. stuffed peppers. =)

3 to 4 C. your favorite marinara sauce or seasoned tomato sauceSalt & Pepper to taste8 bell peppers (Ours were kinda of long and narrow - so if you use bigger peppers, probably only 6)

Preheat oven to 350º F.

In a large bowl, combine meats, onion, garlic, rice and S&P well with your hands. Slice the tops of the peppers off, reserving them, and clean the inside of the peppers free of membrane and seeds. Stuff meat mixture evenly in peppers and slap the tops back on. Place a layer of tomato sauce or your favorite marinara in a 9 x 13 x 2 inch Pyrex baking dish and then add the stuffed peppers. If they won't stand up straight you can either cut off a bit of the bottoms to steady them or simply cook them on their sides. Top off peppers with more tomato sauce/marinara and cover loosely with foil.

Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the peppers are fork tender and the filling is cooked through.

Boy, those colors are really amazing and I can imagine how fresh and sweet they tasted. Was the sauce your own creation?

Way to go Hubbs (Wayne?) I'll never have that experience (1) cause the guy doesn't cook and (2) I get home hours before he does. I'm very fortuante, however, in that he dives in to clean the kitchen almost every night.

Oooo! I have a few recipes for stuffed peppers but have veered away as they all seemed too complicated for a beginner...I think your hubby's one might be just the ticket for a beginner to the world of stuffed veggies!